Land Rover Overland Adventure to Central Asia

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I purchased this tent from Decathlon, the UK dealer for Quechua tents. The cost of the tent was 199 UK pounds. We then used the tent on our two-week camping trip in Europe.

Quechua Base Seconds 4.2 tent

The tent is advertised as a four-man tent and has two separate sleeping compartments, one on each side of the living area. This arrangement worked well for us, as Michele and I had our own personal space in the tent. The sleeping areas were spacious for single occupancy but could be a bit tight for two adults in each area. Each sleeping area has a full size entrance that is zipped closed with a mesh panel along the upper edge. The sleeping compartments are attached to the main tent, providing a gap between them.

The living area is spacious and tall enough for me to be able to stand up inside (I’m six feet tall). As can be seen in the photo, the area is large enough to fit in a table and two chairs with room to spare. There are mesh panels on the entrance and the rear panel that can be covered by a zipped flap. When open, the allow for a good flow through of air. We encountered a lot of rainy weather during the trip but the living area was large enough for us to cook our meals inside without any problems. The tent also stood up well to the rain.

Setting up the tent was quick and easy. The separate groundsheet is pegged out first and then the tent is taken out of the disc-shaped storage bag and it pops open. Within a couple of minutes, the tent can be opened up and attached to the same pegs that secure the groundsheet. It is then attached to the living area groundsheet with Velcro tabs and four zippers are closed. That’s it – the tent is set up very quickly. There are guy-lines on the tent but we never used them. The tent is stable enough without them. If the weather got windy then we’d use the guy-lines to add stability.

Taking the tent down is easy enough provided that you understand how it is done. There are specific steps that must be taken and if you don’t know them, you’ll never figure it out. We had a Decathlon store employee demonstrate the technique in the store and then I repeated the process twice myself under his guidance. That was sufficient to be able to do it myself without problems. In Amsterdam, I was approached by a couple of teenagers who had the same tent. They were trying to pack it away and had no clue how to do it. Fortunately, I was able to show them how to do it – otherwise they would have been stuck! Once you understand the technique, taking the tent down and packing it away is east to do and can be done in a few minutes.

After two-weeks of use, I was very happy with the tent. The only areas of improvement involve the ground sheet and how it is attached to the tent. The living area has a ‘bathtub’ style ground sheet whereas the groundsheet under the sleeping compartments is a flat sheet. This design prevents water run-off entering the living area but could allow water to run between the groundsheet and the bottom of the sleeping compartments, where it could seep up into the tent. Also, whilst the bathtub groundsheet attaches to the tent with Velcro tabs, there are still gaps that could allow mosquitoes and other insects to enter the living space (but not the sleeping compartments). However, these are relatively minor issues and I will be happy to have my Quechua tent with us for future trips.